


Too Many Batmen

by truc



Series: Superbatweek 2020 [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman Beyond, DCU, DCU (Comics), Justice League - All Media Types, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce Wayne is Batman, Confused Clark, Convergence point, Damian Wayne is Batman, M/M, Mystery, Terry McGinnis is Batman, Time Travel, cryptic Batmen, superbatweek2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25521994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/truc/pseuds/truc
Summary: Clark has one major headache; there's just too many batmen and they are all asking for his help and giving him cryptic answers.Day 4 of the Superbatweek 2020, prompt: "Time Travel"
Relationships: Superman/Batman
Series: Superbatweek 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841941
Comments: 12
Kudos: 103





	1. Chapter 1

For a rare moment in Superman's life, as he floats high above the troposphere, everything is quiet, almost as if frozen in time.

"Superman, come to the Cave, now," Batman orders him in a slightly more tired than usual voice.

Peace never lasts, Superman thinks as he flies in the Batcave's direction.

Descending upon Gotham at night brings to mind gothic minded horror stories. Superman is never sure whether a muted crocodile, a mad jester or a plant-crazed woman is waiting for him, all fairy tales' villains brought to life in all of their atrocious glories.

Be as it may, Superman finds the Batcave and finds Batman scowling at his computer as he types energetically.

Of course, the man doesn't explain why he called him here; it's up to Superman to hunt the answer.

"Good evening, Bruce. What's keeping you up?"

"There's a Spatio-temporal anomaly," Bruce succinctly explains, "but I can't pinpoint where it is happening."

"Would you like me to look for it?"

Bruce stops typing and looks at him, a frown marring his face. "It is doubtful you'd produce the needed result. Flying randomly around the Earth is like seeking a needle in a haystack."

"I'm good at finding needles in haystacks. Any suggestions on how I can help?"

"Help me reduce the disturbances interfering with my work," Bruce replies, stone-faced.

"How?"

"By flying back to Metropolis."

Bruce had called him, ordered him to come, barely explained anything and sent him on his way. A lifetime of trained tolerance to evildoers' inane plans remains the only reason Clark doesn't lose his temper.

"Let me know if anything changes," Clark says through his teeth.

Bruce grunts.

Clark flies back to Metropolis and lands on the Daily Planet's rooftop. Going there is his safe place to get his frustration out, mostly used after a particularly 'gruelling Bruce meeting.'

"Why can't you use words, you thick-headed-anal-retentive-giant-ball-of-inconsiderate-behaviour?" Clark says as he paces across the rooftop, frustration to the max. He stretches his legs, his arms and his neck as a calming mechanism. He exhales and straightens his back to regain composure, feeling already better.

"Finished your little meltdown?" a sarcastic voice startles Clark out of his thought. Who could have taken him by surprise like that?

Out of the shadow tumbles a black silhouette so familiar yet so unfamiliar that Clark freezes. "Batman?"

"That's me," the figure dares, puffing their chest out and glaring at him in a way that was too wary for Clark's Batman to use with him.

Besides, the voice is all wrong, so is the costume and the body. The timbre, similar to Bruce's, has an accent Clark cannot place while the costume's esthetics aren't as classic-oriented as Bruce's. The costume's black cape covers a grey-tinted body armour tunic, a yellow belt and comfortable looking boots. The jaw, as sharp as Bruce's, doesn't have the same scars nor exact skin colour; this one being a few shades darker than Bruce's.

This Batman isn't Bruce Wayne.

"Identify yourself," Superman calls as he raises his guard. Any Batman is dangerous on his own; that's a lesson he has thoroughly learned from dealing with dimension jumpers.

Superman feels more than see the Batman roll in his eyes in exasperation at his 'antics.'

"I am Damian Wayne, the biological son of Bruce Wayne. I am Batman from the future," the man answers almost with a sneer.

Well, that explains the animosity: Damian never did like Superman. Besides, Damian inheriting his father's cowl wasn't surprising in itself.

Clark crosses his arms. "Why did you time-travel? You know that's risky."

The older Damian clenched his jaw. For a moment, Clark was sure he wouldn't answer. "Someone is attempting to change your timeline; I'm here to stop them."

"So, you're stopping someone from changing our timeline?"

"That's what I just explained, _Alien_ ," Damian disdainfully responds.

Clark knows he should keep the conversation as civil as he can; they are both supposed to be professionals (even if one of them didn't act like it).

"Let me rephrase my question. Seeing how you've shown yourself to me despite your intense dislike of me, I suppose you need my help. What do you want from me?"

Damian pinches his lips as he reluctantly admits, "The person trying to change the past will get in communication with you. I need you to let me know when that happens and, I'll deal with them."

That explains at least some things. "Who's that person?"

"The less you know about this, the better it is for the timeline."

The famous Batfamily's catchphrase: though, usually, they used it without the added precision of timeline.

"In brief, you came from some time in the future to stop someone- who you're refusing to name- from interacting with me because it would change the future."

"Precisely," older Damian agrees.

Superman motions to both of them. "Wouldn't this communication change the future?"

Future Batman throws a communicator at him. "Use this to let me know when they do make their move. Don't tell anyone about this meeting."

Superman quirks an eyebrow up. "Wouldn't it be better to warn this world's Batman? He already knows that someone breached the time-space continuum."

Damian sends him a warning glare. "Don't you dare."

With the swoosh of the cape, future Batman disappears in the shadows formed by the Daily Planet's giant globe.

Thirty minutes ago, Clark had been peaceful. In that period, two Batmen ordered him around, one of which was some time-travelling Superman-hating version of Damian Wayne trying to stop someone from interfering with the space-time continuum by using Superman.

Things were looking up, Superman dryly thinks.


	2. Chapter 2

Clark, unfortunately, is affected by the idea of a hostile Damian Batman spying on him; he does not sleep that night.

Fortunately, he doesn't see any bat's shadow or other time-traveller interlopers at his work and, he can almost function as usual.

That night, he stops fires, robberies and car accidents. Reassured things may be getting back to normal, Clark receives a call on his communicator again.

"Superman, there's another one."

Before Superman can ask questions, Bruce has hung up the communicator.

For a minute, Superman is very tempted to ignore Bruce's obvious hook and wait for an official invitation. Regrettably, Superman knows this is as good as it gets with Bruce.

Sighing, Superman flies to the Bat-cave. Again, Bruce, dressed as Batman, seems intent on his computer screen. This time, he looks utterly annoyed.

'Good,' Superman pettily thinks, 'at least I'm not the only one.'

"Still can't pick up the location?" Superman asks.

Batman glares at his computer, incensed he couldn't get answers. "Someone is interfering with my specialized Spatio-temporal pinpointing device. Maybe it's someones because it couldn't pick it up yesterday nor tonight."

"That is worrying," Superman tells, mind thinking back to Bruce's son from the future arriving in Metropolis. Knowing his luck, this new arrival will also appear in Metropolis and pester Superman (especially since future Damian Batman is right). "Maybe you should get the Justice League involved."

Bruce turns the glare on him. "I already sent notification to the Watchtower, but there's nothing they can do without more data."

So, Bruce did ask for help, meaning he did think this was extremely dangerous. Superman feels almost compelled to recount future Damian's interaction. Instead, with a pang, he remembers Bruce advising the Justice League of the possible repercussions of changing the time stream; it could not only destroy an entire timeline but make the time stream collapse. It would be more prudent not to advise Bruce of his future son's appearance.

"Is there anything I can do to help you?" Superman instead offers.

With his cowl still on, Bruce habitually intimidates with a glance; now, he looks tired as he presses a hand on his kevlar covered forehead.

"Superman, stop offering me your help. I know you mean well, but there must be better applications for your powers."

Superman's mouth dries. He wants to help Bruce; every time, Bruce says he should spend his time and talents elsewhere. It's almost as if Bruce views Superman as a piece of equipment with powers instead of a friend.

"I'll get my powers and me out of Gotham, where we're so useless," Superman replies. Without waiting for a response- he doubts he would get one-, he flies back to his apartment.

He changes into his pyjama and switches on his television. All the shows look the same. Fake and boring. Clark powers off his television and hugs a pillow close to his chest, feeling upset for some reason he could not quite understand.

He should be used to Bruce's autonomous stance on help by now. But somehow, it hurts more now than ever.

Someone drags him from his deliberation by knocking on his window. Outside, there is a Batman flying- feet propelled, to be exact, by some unknown advanced technology- with no cape and a red bat on his chest.

Clark draws a blank on his identity, but if a Batman wants to take him down, he would take him by surprise with Kryptonite rather than knock on his window.

Sighing, Clark opens the window to let in the intruder.

"Nice PJs," a young voice tells him from the full-faced mask as he moves in. "Very much old-styled."

Clark rubs his eye as he takes in the lean and athletic young man landing on his floor. "Let me guess. You're a Batman from the future."

"Right on," the man answers with a twinkle in his lensed eye.

"Who are you? I don't recognize you."

The man shrugs. "It's better that way for the space-time continuum or something. At least, that's what Bruce Wayne told me."

Right. The mysterious Batman dropped that name to let Clark know that he knows who Bruce Wayne is: it's probably the boy's mentor if his look and demeanour is anything to go on.

"And you want?"

Batman looks around and sees the couch. He gestures to it. "Can we sit? It'll take some time to tell this story."

Clark sighs again and gestures the couch. "Make yourself at home."

Batman sits and looks at him. "You're pretty chill with letting a total stranger from the future into your house."

"I had a rough day. Maybe you should tell me why you're here." Clark crosses his arms and stares at the stranger, trying to gauge how he had caught Bruce's attention.

Batman crosses his legs and lets one of his arms hang on the couch's back. "I'm here because this is the convergent point in Spatio-temporal-travelling for a matter. There'll be intruders that'll want to change the incoming events. I'm here to get them to leave without changing our time stream."

"That's interesting," Clark says.

"How so?" Batman tilts his head in defiance.

"There's another future Batman who gave me the same speech."

Batman jumps up, instantly alert and wary. "He's here?"

Damian Batman bounces from somewhere (Clark is suddenly worried about his privacy), a naked sword in his hands aimed at the unknown Batman.

The mysterious Batman propels himself away from the attack. His suit gives him batarangs (how? Clark has no clue- which is on par with the rest of whatever this is). "I'm not here to fight you, Damian."

Damian charges at him, weapon ready.

The mysterious Batman grins. "I can fight if that's what you want, though." He throws his weapons at Damian to slow him down and rushes to the window to get more maneuverability.

Clark is so sick of this that he bear-hugs each Batman in one arm. "Will you both stop destroying my apartment?!?"

Damian glares at him as he wiggles unsuccessfully; the mysterious Batman, on the other hand(literally), looks surprised.

"Let go or, I'll use Kryptonite," Damian Batman threatens. That is the straw that broke the camel's back.

"You know what; I'm not dealing with either of you tonight." Without any other warnings, Superman, still in his sheep and music instruments PJs, flies them to a building at the edge of the town's limits, leaves Damian Batman, then, he flies the other to the other side's limits and drops mysterious Batman off.

Clark brushes his hands and goes to bed. He surprisingly sleeps well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My two next chapters only need a final revision and, I'll post them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mystery gets resolved.

Today, Clark is on high alert for stray time-travelling Batman looking to speak with him. Luckily (for them), they appear to know enough not to disturb him at work.

He's accosted by the mysterious Batman minutes after he starts wearing his Superman costume for his after-work patrol.

"Do you have a minute?"

Superman lands beside the weirdly simple-looking Batman costume but does not say anything. He's pissed.

"We didn't start on the right foot. Let's restart this. I'm Batman from the future and, you-know-who sent me to make sure nobody messes with our timeline. I'm a big fan of yourself."

Clark blinks at the last sentence. "You're a fan of mine? Shouldn't you avoid saying anything personal because of space-time continuum issues?"

The man puts his hands on his hips and smiles. "That was Wayne's method; as yesterday showed us, that didn't work out so well. I've decided to improvise a bit."

Clark isn't sure this is such an improvement on the standard non-disclosure Batfamily policy. It does seem a tad reckless; the unravelling of the space-time continuum was, according to Bruce, a distinct possibility.

"You don't know me," the mysterious Batman says, "It would be hard to ask you to trust me out of the blue. I won't give you too much information about myself because of the blah blah blah consequences. However, you can ask me a question to create some trust between us."

Clark carefully thinks about a question that might not put their whole space-time continuum at risk. "If it's not too much of a spoiler, can you tell me how Bruce chose you to be Batman?"

Batman beams at the question. "Nice one. I stole his Batsuit. Don't tell your Batman this because he would upgrade his security on it."

Clark googles at him. "You stole his Batsuit and, you got the job?!?" How does that even make sense?

Although to be fair, Jason indeed stole wheels from the Batmobile and, Tim did stalk Batman and Robin for years; they both ended as Robins.

Clark isn't sure if Bruce's norms are utterly rubbish or genius.

"Right." the cocky man grins.

"I'll listen to what you have to say," Clark tells him.

Batman nods. "It's quite simple. Two people are trying to influence your choice to make a different event happen. I'm here to send them on their way."

"Is Damian Batman from the future one of them?" Clark asks.

"He's..." Batman gets interrupted by Damian Batman.

"Don't listen to him," Damian Batman orders as he points at mysterious Batman. "He's _**his**_ lapdog!"

Mysterious Batman crosses his arms with a composed face.

"He is in cahoots with the person trying to change the timeline. Don't trust this rat," Damian Batman snarls.

Clark officially has a headache. He isn't sure who's lying. He isn't even sure it matters.

His communicator comes back to life. "Superman, another one has shown up," Bruce tells him.

Clark cannot take it any more Batman dropping from who knows where. "Don't fight." He leaves both Batmen to hash up their differences.

"Batman," Clark says as soon as he lands in the Batcave. "Any news on how to solve the Spatio-temporal dimensional rift?"

Batman scowls at him. Clenching his jaw, he says, "I thought I made myself clear last time; stop disturbing me each day with inquiries."

Clark loses it. "What is wrong with you? You call me each day to come here only to chase me away! I can't stand you being this capricious!"

When Clark glances at Bruce, in anger, he catches the astonished look the man sends his way.

"Clark, who did you say calls you each day?"

"You, of course," Clark snaps back.

Bruce stands up, suddenly on high alert. "Show yourself."

Clark thinks his friend has officially lost it until he hears a small clattering coming closer. Then, a wrinkled and grey-haired man appears in his field of vision. Broad chested, he's leaning on a brown cane, eyes seemingly stuck in a frown forever.

He's also, undoubtedly, Bruce Wayne.

"You were the one messing with my equipment," the younger counterpart of Bruce Wayne states.

"I did," the older version answers unhesitatingly. He sounds exactly like the tired Bruce Wayne that kept calling him.

"Why are you here?" The younger version grunts, annoyed at this other version who messed with his technology.

"He's mad," Older Damian accuses from the Batcave's entrance as he comes in. The mysterious Batman walks beside him.

The old Bruce glances at Damian then at the mysterious Batman before fixing Superman with his wise gaze. "Subtle."

Superman thinks he faintly understands what the older man is trying to convey.

Present time Batman, on the other hand, looks more irritated that people can walk willy-nilly into his Batcave despite his extensive security protocol.

"Why are you here?" a genuinely curious Superman repeats.

Old Bruce Wayne walks from his hidden spot in the cavern to their aggregation. Nobody interrupts the walk with interrogations; it's a talent Bruce has always had.

Finally, the older man dressed in dark colours says: "I came to correct the changes Damian Wayne intends to make to this timeline."

Damian Batman gashes his teeth as he steps forward. "That's a lie! You're the one changing this timeline!"

Mysterious Batman looks at them both. "You're both trying to change this timeline. Neither of you should be here."

"Why did you come here?" present Batman asks everyone.

Damian Batman glares at him before transferring it back to old Bruce. "You took away my best friend. You'll regret it."

Old Bruce glares in about the same fashion, but calmer. "You took away my happiness, Damian. That's not something I can forgive."

There is something bitterly sincere in their mutual antagonism.

"Let's get you back to where you're both meant to be," mysterious Batman continues, hands ready for batarangs.

Younger Bruce looks at everyone and seems to comprehend something. 'Good for him,' Clark thinks.

"Stop this," younger Bruce orders. He points at the mysterious Batman, "Do you know how to get everyone where they are supposed to be?"

"Yes."

Younger Bruce turns to older Bruce. "You should leave this dimension right now."

Older Bruce shares a long gaze with him before he agrees. "I never intended to be here longer than this, anyway. I've already accomplished my purpose."

Damian Batman's eyes bulge in fury as he draws his blade. "You snake," he spits, "you ruined another timeline."

Older Bruce looks amused at the younger man's display. "Payback for what you ruined back home."

"You started this!"

"Neither of you started this!" mysterious Batman yells.

Everyone looks at him. "According to my timeline's Bruce, someone sent a message to transmit to each of you. Someone else messed with each of your dimensions."

"Who?" growls older Bruce and Damian Batman together.

Mysterious Batman shrugs. "Maybe you should focus on finding them before they get to other dimensions instead of fighting about which ending is better. It's not your place to interfere."

Older Bruce and Damian Batman think it over, though they send wary glances to each other.

"I'll go after we undo this snake's damages," Damian says.

Older Bruce only responds, "I compensated for your arrival and extremely obvious warnings to Superman."

Mysterious Batman sighs. "Seriously? Just go. I doubt there's a way we can erase this incident from Superman's memories."

"Without repercussion," younger Bruce Wayne loudly adds before anyone can describe such a method. "You've done enough problems for Superman and I. Scram. We'll handle the clean-up by ourselves."

Clark feels as if he's the only one who does not understand what's happening in the room.

Finally, older Bruce and Damian Batman agree to go back to each of their dimensions and confer about the troublemaker who willfully changed their timeline for the worse.

Once they have disappeared through the portals, Bruce turns to mysterious Batman. "Tell your Bruce I've received his message."

Mysterious Batman does the double-take at Bruce. "What message?"

Bruce points at the costume. "He sent you here with his signature all over you. That's my work; even the modification for yourself seems to be single-handled made by me. That was your letter of introduction."

Mysterious Batman sheepishly touches his head. "I wasn't even supposed to meet you."

Bruce raises one eyebrow. "He knew we would meet; subtleties isn't your strength."

"Why do you keep saying that? Such a judgmental old man," the man mutters under his breath.

Bruce glares at him and narrows his eyes. "Go."

Mysterious Batman activates his portal and waves at Superman. "Thanks for the welcome. You're the only one who knows how to say hi here."

With that, the mysterious Batman is gone.

And Clark still has no idea what happened.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terry McGinnis is the mysterious Batman. Don't be too surprised with the switch of name; here, everyone knows him as Terry.

Terry returns to his present, happy to be back.

Wayne waits for him on his cane by the entrance.

The portal closes behind Terry.

"Mission accomplished," Batman announces to his mentor.

"You babbled," Wayne states.

"What?"

"You babbled about you stealing my suit from me to Superman."

Terry shrugs. "At least, he didn't tell you until it happened."

"He told me within a week of your visit in the past," Wayne explains.

Terry removes his cowl, trying to understand the ramifications of what Wayne was telling him. "You mean, you didn't upgrade your security."

Wayne glares at him before returning to his seat, letting a statement fall, "I had to downgrade my security to avoid creating a time paradox. I warned you not to say anything about the future."

"But it all worked out perfectly," Terry responds. "I made you lower your suit security to get a replacement. I stopped both that Damian and Bruce from trying to influence Superman to choose Lois Lane or you." He counts his successes on his fingers. "And Superman still chose you."

Clark's voice drifts from the next room. "He got you cornered, alright."

"The other Bruce did have the chance to intervene," Wayne insists.

Clark pops his head in the room. "Do you think that the only reason I chose to date and marry you was because of what happened those three days?"

"What was the plan exactly? Annoy Wayne and you to death?" Terry asks.

Clark shrugs. "Who knows."

Bruce knows precisely why his counterpart did what he did; he forced Clark to confront the reason why he wanted to help Bruce so much and why his declined offers upset him. This realization, in turn, helped Clark realize he's in love with Bruce.

But, Bruce is not about to explain it to Clark nor Terry. He's not going to admit the other Bruce gave him an unfair advantage against Damian (who wanted for Jon Kent to exist, hence why Clark had to marry Lois Lane).

Clark kisses his cheek. Bruce cannot imagine the other Bruce's future without Clark as his lover.

He wants to believe he paid his debt by pushing the other Damian and Bruce to find the villain who changed how their world should be.

He wouldn't want to change this present for anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all the confused Clark out there, here's the time travelling/dimension travelling info about this fic: 
> 
> Damian Batman is from another dimension in which someone erased the existence of Jonathan Kent-Lane (aka Superboy) by making Clark end up with Bruce Wayne. 
> 
> Older Bruce in the past is from another dimension in which someone interfered with his past and Clark ends up with someone else (presumably Lois Lane). 
> 
> Both of them realizes what happened through some chance happenings (i.e. with something akin to magic, they both see how their dimension should really be). Both of them blame the other for playing with their timeline. Terry (mysterious Batman) reveals a third party is messing with the timelines and that they should find that person.
> 
> Terry McGinnis is from that past Bruce and Superman's timeline, but from the future. He's the only one who genuinely doesn't dimension hop and only time-travel. Through him, we see that Bruce and Clark do end up together in that dimension (Bruce thinks they only did because of the other Bruce's subtle interference; Clark does not think he's been manipulated- who knows who's right). 
> 
> *If you're confused why I used Spatio-temporal continuum instead of inter-dimensional travel, it's because, in my mind, inter-dimensional travel is affecting the Spatio-temporal continuum. Let's say that spatio-temporal is the fourth dimension and inter-dimensional travel is the fifth dimension. So, inter-dimensional travel is still Spatio-temporal travel, but more complex. I'm no expert in quantum physics and theory; this is only my pitiful explanation on time travel.


End file.
